Guant&aacute;namo Bay: Basically a $500 Million Strip Mall with Go-Karts and Starbucks?

The Washington Post has crunched some numbers, and it turns out the government has sunk $500 million into Guant&aacute;namo Bay since 2001. (This is twice as much as the cost of Avatar.). It is “the first public accounting of how much has been spent on the base since the first detainees arrived in January 2002,” according to the paper. The $500 million figure includes: “an abandoned volleyball court for $249,000, an unused go-kart track for $296,000 and $3.5 million for 27 playgrounds that are often vacant. The Pentagon also spent $683,000 to renovate a cafe that sells ice cream and Starbucks coffee, and $773,000 to remodel a cinder-block building to house a KFC/Taco Bell restaurant.” Let’s see, what else? Athletic fields, a skate part, a hockey rink, and a $20,000 soccer cage is on the way. The annual operating costs come to $150 million, which is not included in the $500 million total; nor are any “clandestine black-budget items,” about which all we know is that they sound like they might be quite pricey.